The First Syrup

I finished making the first jar of syrup yesterday. I think it tastes good. Everyone else though says it's bland and they like the cheap corn syrup store brand stuff. HORROR!! Have I warped their taste buds by letting them eat the cheap stuff? Maybe I did something wrong? LOL It's sort of like chocolate...some people can taste and appreciate the finer quality stuff and other people think it's the same as that cheap Easter bunny chocolate. I'll convert them yet! But maybe not to the good chocolate....that's a treat I'm ok to keep to myself :)

Even after the windstorm was literally blowing sap out of the buckets (that's why the plastic tubes are so handy) we collected sap into an 18 litre jug for ease of carrying and got approx 14 litres. The kids have found that our pop bottles are fine but they prefer emptying buckets as they are easier to get on and off the hooks. I'm still going to make my second batch just a soon as I get a stainless steel scrubber and get that burned sugar off the bottom of the big stock pot from the other day. Oh, here's a handy household hint for you. Do you know why it's ok to use an SOS pad to scrub a cast iron pan but why you should never use them on a stainless steel pot? Tiny particles of the scrubbing pad break through the stainless finish and embed themselves in the metal of the pot where they rust. That's what causes those tiny little rust spots on some peoples stainless steel pots and pans. So to keep yours in good condition even when you've burned something onto them...scrape of as much as possible, soak the pan with hot water and some dish detergent and then go at it with a stainless steel scrubber and not an SOS style soap pad. I pretty much just described my morning, lol.

Today has dawned cold (-8) and clear. We've got some pretty variable weather for the next few weeks which is typical of spring. We have King Fu as usual this morning and while the kids are doing tiger rolls (sounds like a type of sushi) I think we'll go and walk around the property we're so in love with in Victoria Vale. If we can find someone to help us purchase it then it means we can make plans and start saving to build a home. It will be so nice to be working on something for ourselves instead of renovating a house and farm for years only to finish and then have our landlord break the lease and sell the property. That's what happened to us in BC. I tend to forget that people do things like that because I would never screw anyone over. That's why we'll always in the future get all agreements properly written up and signed by a notary or lawyer. It's a sad world when a man's word is no longer his bond.

Either way, we break ground on a greenhouse over on our borrowed garden lot next weekend if the wind cooperates and tilling the soil should happen about then too. The first seeds won't go into the ground for at least 2 more weeks and under row covers to protect them from light frosts for a few weeks. I've got a good idea of what I want to grow and the local Co-Op owner has said he'll get me a wholesale price on bulk seeds. All I had to do was ask. I should pop in there today and get another couple of buckets and another syrup filter.

Have fun with your day. I'll post pics of syrup later on and let you all know how it turns out. We had fun babysitting Olivia yesterday who is now up to 10 steps! Soon we'll be chasing her all over the house!